FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Lazy Farmer]

some people raise maggots to feed the chickens.. free protein

I wish there was a gross tab to click!

 

[Ebarnes-21]

I would not be at all surprised if your rain water is on the acid side. (Acid rain!)

Na ... we don't have such a thing in NZ ... ever ... always totally pure rain. In fact, the normal source of drinking water in rural NZ is roof water. No-one has wells, well almost no-one (I do know of one person), and river water is only an emergency ration in dry summers if you're unlucky enough to run out of rain water in your tank!

Even in Auckland, the biggest city there's no smog, never seen it in my life. Additionally, I am 58Km away from the nearest so called 'city' which to give you size perspective you could walk clear through it in an hour at a very gentle pace.

Every other bucket is, and always has been (I have tested rain water before for the aquaponics system), straight PH7 ... I've pulled that bucket in now and I'm using another.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I think my birds MIGHT be a little lean.

I feed only FF... 20% protein flock raiser, occasional LIVE meal worms or sprouts/fodder, constant free range.

Plan to have a fecal run at the vet next week, despite not seeing any actual symptoms.

I wish there was a gross tab to click!View attachment 1109698

EB21, you went and ruined it... now I know your age and gender. I kinda like the mystery and also the fun of finding out, so sometimes I wait to click a profile on purpose!

Oh, I almost forgot my main reason for posting.. a new FF freeloader/pest, dang meat bees have arrived mid August. I've seen those buggers clear a pan of burritos in a half hour. And oh do their bites hurt! And the mosquitoes seriously swarm inside my FF can... guessing it's the CO2 attraction.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Na ... we don't have such a thing in NZ ... ever ... always totally pure rain. In fact, the normal source of drinking water in rural NZ is roof water. No-one has wells, well almost no-one (I do know of one person), and river water is only an emergency ration in dry summers if you're unlucky enough to run out of rain water in your tank!

Even in Auckland, the biggest city there's no smog, never seen it in my life. Additionally, I am 58Km away from the nearest so called 'city' which to give you size perspective you could walk clear through it in an hour at a very gentle pace.

Every other bucket is, and always has been (I have tested rain water before for the aquaponics system), straight PH7 ... I've pulled that bucket in now and I'm using another.

I read 58,000 miles to the nearest city... because 58K is how we would abbreviate that. I was all like WOW, that's impressive.

 

[Ebarnes-21]

Yes maggots do make great chicken feed. A common trick is to stack, say, possum bodies, roadkill etc on a wire rack above your chickens head height, and they pick up the maggots as they fall.

I tried it once. Frankly I don't like the smell or look of dead things. Also, basic fact, no "Energy Conversion" is totally loss-less, and although the maggots are higher in protein than possum meat, more is lost in nitrogen gasses, and the odd "One that Got Away".

So now I feed the meat straight to the chickens (cooked). Mostly offal meats from my sheep. Occasional supplementation with possum or eel. They do much better on this than on the few yucky squirmies they actually got!!

 

[Ebarnes-21]

I think my birds MIGHT be a little lean.

I feed only FF... 20% protein flock raiser, occasional LIVE meal worms or sprouts/fodder, constant free range.

Plan to have a fecal run at the vet next week, despite not seeing any actual symptoms.




EB21, you went and ruined it... now I know your age and gender. I kinda like the mystery and also the fun of finding out, so sometimes I wait to click a profile on purpose!

Oh, I almost forgot my main reason for posting.. a new FF freeloader/pest, dang meat bees have arrived mid August. I've seen those buggers clear a pan of burritos in a half hour. And oh do their bites hurt! And the mosquitoes seriously swarm inside my FF can... guessing it's the CO2 attraction.

I read 58,000 miles to the nearest city... because 58K is how we would abbreviate that. I was all like WOW, that's impressive.

LOL

 

[Ebarnes-21]

Glad to hear the explanation of how to tell more accurately how the body weight of one's birds is ... I've always wondered how other people tell.

I pick them up and try to compare what they feel like along the keel to similar chickens we've eaten ... I wonder what they think I'm doing ... "Now Kira, are you nice and fat today???"

 

[lazy gardener]

FYI, here's an ACID rain chart. Here in Maine, we have very little industry to contribute to acid rain, nor do we have the amount of traffic that is seen in large metropolitan areas, however, we reap the "fall out from industrialized areas to the west of us, as seen by this chart. Almost all of our weather patterns come from the west.

https://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/investigations/es1807/es1807page02.cfm

 

[Ebarnes-21]

Most of our weather comes from the west too. But, NZ lies broadside to it ... so if you're looking Upwind, as it were, everyone gets fresh weather from over the pacific. Even in NZ, there are comparatively few factories anywhere really, and all the power stations are hydroelectric, geothermal, or wind.

 

[mobius]

thing is about that barley as nice as it may seem, if it leftover from beer or whatever, it may not contain enough nutrients,,, be careful there...I was told that from a friend who both had chickens and made beer.

I love barley for chickens and i have a fifty pound bag of it that i use for fodder...